Home Run Derby

We’ve already unveiled our Andre Dawson Awards this week … so let’s go back twenty years to Andre Dawson’s MVP season in 1987 - specifically August 1, 1987.

The Chicago Cubs were 5.5 games back of the Cardinals.  The Philadelphia Phillies were at Wrigley Field.

And Andre Dawson smoked the Phillies for Home Runs #29, #30 and #31.

The following video clip is great to see Dawson in his prime and to hear Harry Caray and Steve Stone call the action.

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Twenty Years Ago (in 1987) Andre Dawson was named the Most Valuable Player of the National League.

Before the 1987 season, Dawson (a free agent) had made it clear that he wanted to play for the Cubs because they played day baseball and had natural grass at Wrigley Field.  The Cubs didn’t seem interested (because they had Brian Dayett slated to play RF) so Dawson basically forced the Cubs to sign him when he handed them a signed blank contract right before Spring Training which the Cubs filled in the numbers at a base of $500,000 with $250,000 in incentives.

A quick look at his stats from that season (.287 Avg, .568 Slg, 49 HR, 137 RBI) say that he was worthy of the honor. 

But the most fun fact about that MVP season is that Dawson was the first player in Major League Baseball history to win a league MVP award while playing for a last place team (the Cubs finished a staggering 18.5 games behind the Cardinals).  In 2003, Alex Rodriguez became the second man to accomplish this feat (with the Texas Rangers).

Ironically, the Cardinals had two MVP candidates in 1987 (Ozzie Smith and Jack Clark) Dawson’s great season (and his gesture to play for whatever the Cubs wanted to pay him) and the split of the St. Louis vote for NL MVP left Smith and Clark #2 and #3 in the MVP voting. 

So, in honor of that special season, Home Run Derby presents the Andre Dawson Awards - given to the Most “Valuable” Player on a last place team in each League.   Because these guys deserve an award for having fabulous seasons while their teammates couldn’t do anything to support them.

The 2007 AL and NL Andre’s go to ….

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In 1987, Andre Dawson became the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to win a league MVP award while playing for a last place team.

In honor of that acheivement and the fact that it’s hard to soar with the eagles when you’re surrounded by turkeys … Home Run Derby has compiled a list of players who performed among the best in their league while their teams unfortunately held them down.

And here they are

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